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Historically, houseboy was a Commonwealth term for a male housecleaner. He was usually a person of colour who worked for an English family living in a Commonwealth country. A female housecleaner was called a housegirl. Houseboys and housegirls often had to wear a uniform.

Houseboy was also used as an Americanslang term originating in World War II for a native boy who helped a soldier perform basic responsibilities like cleaning, laundry, ironing, shoe-shining, running errands, and the like. However, unlike the American "bootleboy" or British "batman (military)", a houseboy was not employed by an officer or noncommissioned officer but by the entry-level soldier or private as a means to reduce a very heavy workload or to cut corners on a large amount of work. The employment was at first condoned but later, and especially during the Korean War, soldiers who were caught employing a houseboy faced stiff penalties because a lot of them became expert thieves and could be either bribed for information or have their relatives kidnapped or killed for helping Americans. By 1982, Korean houseboys were again permitted (as at Camp Casey), and were generally middle-aged men conspicuously older than the young troops they served.[citation needed]